Thursday 10th June, 5.00 - 7.00pm

'From a 'state theory of learning' to accountable autonomy: how can it be achieved?

Professor Robin Alexander, Director of the Cambridge Primary Review, University of Cambridge Faculty of Education

Commenting on political hints that the central direction of the work of primary teachers might be relaxed after 13 years of what has been called a 'state theory of learning', the final report of the Cambridge Primary Review warned that 'a process which has concentrated so much power at the centre, and over the course of two decades has so decisively re-configured the relationship between government and teachers, cannot be instantly unpicked.' At this seminar, Robin Alexander, the Review's director, rehearsed the evidence that led to the Review's diagnosis and invited participants to join in discussion of how professional re-empowerment can be achieved in a way that doesn't replace compliance and dependence by non-accountable license.

Thursday 12th November, 5.15 - 7pm

'Can the new technologies transform learning?'

Professor David Hargreaves, Associate Director for Development and Research for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT)

David Hargreaves is Associate Director for Development and Research for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), and Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. He has played leading roles in both academic and policy arenas having previously occupied positions that include: Chief Executive of the QCA, a Professor at the University of Cambridge, Chief Inspector of the Inner London Education Authority, and Chairman of BECTA.

It was as Chairman of BECTA that David took a critical interest in the relationship between learning and information/communication technology, the potential power and inherent limitations of ICT. As the embrace of technologically driven solutions continues to grow the question becomes more urgent - can the new technologies transform learning?

Thursday 11th June, 5 - 7pm

'Personality, Agency and Chance in Educational Policy Making'

John Bangs, Assistant Secretary of Education, Equality and Professional Development, National Union of Teachers

John Bangs, who is spending a one term secondment as a Visiting Scholar in the Faculty, will be offering intriguing insights into the vagaries of policy making in education. John has recently been interviewing, among others, Gillian Shepherd, Estelle Morris, Michael Barber, Lord Puttnam, Kenneth Baker and Jim Knight for a forthcoming magnum opus on the shaping and reshaping of education. His choice of title stems from stories of power and personality and the often serendipitous nature of decision making. This promises to be a not-to-be missed opportunity to engage in discussion of issues that deeply affect those in education. The event will be chaired by John MacBeath.

Tuesday 3rd March, 5 - 7pm

'The Centre for Commonwealth Education (CCE): Leading an Epistemic Imperialism or a Polyphonic Dialectic?'
 

Dr. Ciaran Sugrue, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

The recently established Centre for Commonwealth Education (CCE) provides faculty members and the faculty in general, both staff and students, with an important opportunity to collaborate with educators in Commonwealth countries to improve the quality of teaching, learning and leading, and thus also the life chances of many pupils, students and adults in far flung geographic locations dotted around the former Empire. This laudable and challenging ambition is focused primarily on Initial and Continuing Teacher Education, School Leadership, and Pedagogy, but how is sustainable development in these educational domains to be conceptualised, acted on and sustaining in ways that are culturally sensitive yet build capacity? The intention for this session is to outline the Centre’s remit, to indicate current initiatives, while situating these specifics within a wider intellectual conversation that is intent on creating space and opportunity to begin to construct an appropriate dialectic on sustainable development that is inclusive yet celebrates diversity.

Ciaran is particularly keen to hear from colleagues working in schools. This seminar represents another step in our ongoing journey for dialogue between schools and the faculty.

Thursdat 27th November,  5 - 7pm

'Adolescent Well-being and School Experiences: a problematic relationship?'

Professor John Gray, Professor of Education, University of Cambridge Faculty of Education

The Nuffield Foundation currently has a major initiative on 'Adolescent Mental Health'. Teams from a number of British universities are involved. Professor John Gray is leading a research team in the Cambridge Faculty of Education charged with looking at the world-wide evidence on the links between adolescent well-being and 10-14 year olds’ school experiences. How can schools make a difference in this area? What matters? And what does a 'supportive school' look like?

John is Professor of Education in the Cambridge Faculty of Education. He is an international authority on issues connected with school effectiveness and improvement. Over the course of his career he has led some sixty externally-funded research projects as well as a number of school improvement initiatives with a strong practical focus.

Thursday 26th June,  5 - 7pm

'Towards Core Principles of Pedagogy'

Dr Lesley Saunders, Senior Policy Adviser for Research, General Teaching Council for England
Visiting Professor, Institute of Education, London

Lesley Saunders is working with Professor Andrew Pollard (Director of TLRP) to develop a set of draft pedagogical principles, to be widely discussed with teachers and other educators.  The aim is to offer some enduring and values-based principles that will support, and be informed by, teachers’ professional knowledge and practice.  No easy task!  In this seminar, Lesley will present a brief overview of the work so far and why it is needed; and then submit to keen questioning, first from Professor John MacBeath and then from participants.

Thursday 24th April,  4-5.30pm

'Higher Education in America and Britain: Trans-Atlantic Lessons from the New York Commission on Higher Education'

Dr. John B. Clark, Interim Chancellor, State University of New York
Discussant: Dr. Bruce Leslie, Professor of History, SUNY-Brockport and Visiting Scholar

This seminar is an opportunity to hear from the Chancellor of one of the three largest universities in the world, and to have the opportunity to discuss emerging issues that affect teaching, research, resourcing and funding on both sides of the Atlantic.

Dr. Clark is Interim Chancellor of the State University of New York (aka ‘SUNY’), the largest university system in the U.S., with over 420,000 students across 64 campuses.  He is also a member of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s ‘Blue Ribbon’ Commission on Higher Education, charged with designing New York State’s approach to public and private higher education in the coming decades.  The Commission published its Preliminary Report in December.

Chancellor Clark (in America the ‘Chancellor’ is de facto as well as titular leader) will outline the findings of the Report (with copies available before his visit) and provide a commentary on some of its salient issues.  Professor Leslie, who is an expert on comparative higher education, will briefly draw out some of the connections with higher education in the U.K.

A number of the issues in the Report will resonate on this side of the Atlantic.  Among them are: the demands on universities for research prestige and cutting-edge, economically beneficial research; access from secondary schools and non-baccalaureate colleges; the demographic composition (i.e., “diversity”) of students and faculty; the role of teaching universities; and the balance of public and private funding.  As Britain comes to grips with mass higher education in general and the aftermath of the 2003 White Paper specifically, issues for discussion may include international research rankings, Foundation Courses, access, student ‘diversity’, transfer among institutions, and the fate of non-Russell Group institutions after the next RAE.

A contrasting state of affairs

The scope of higher education in New York State provides fascinating parallels and contrasts with the Britain scene. In addition to the public SUNY and CUNY (City University of New York) systems, there are nearly 150 private colleges and universities in New York State, ranging from small liberal arts colleges to two (Columbia and Cornell) ‘Ivy League’ universities. In addition to four research universities and 32 community colleges, SUNY includes 12 non-doctoral ‘university colleges’, two medical centres, 8 technical colleges, and public-private partnerships in fields such as ceramics, forestry, optometry, veterinary medicine, and industrial relations.

Thursday 6th March, 5-7pm

'The Thomas Deacon Academy'

Dr Alan McMurdo, Principal of the Thomas Deacon Academy, Peterborough

The Leadership for Learning group will be hosting a supper seminar led by Dr Alan McMurdo, the Principal of the Thomas Deacon Academy, Peterborough. He has overseen the construction of a new building and the inauguration of a new school from the amalgamation of three other schools in Peterborough.

The building design and curriculum initiatives have created opportunities for radical and exciting approaches to restructuring and re-culturing schooling. This is an opportunity to engage in discussion and debate the issues with this school leader in the first year of this endeavour.